


Faire Play: Fireworks

by HawkSong



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Aether Sex (Final Fantasy XIV), Aged-Up Character(s), Blow Jobs, Crossdressing, Cunnilingus, Incest, Multi, Pegging, Penis In Vagina Sex, Porn with Feelings, Pseudo-Incest, Semi-Public Sex, aether bonds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 00:01:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29234190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HawkSong/pseuds/HawkSong
Summary: Berylla, the Warrior of Light, is very very glad that her beloved twins are home and whole and beside her.
Relationships: Alisaie Leveilleur/Warrior of Light, Alphinaud Leveilleur/Warrior of Light
Comments: 9
Kudos: 28





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a drabble; the events here may or may not ever exist inside my main long fic storyline. It takes place post 5.4 during Moonfire Faire.  
> Both twins are age 20 in this fic.
> 
> READ AT YOUR OWN RISK
> 
> This does edge really close to incest, probably, that's why I included both a tag for that and pseudo incest.  
> Several things are referenced here including aether bonding that took place in another drabble (as yet unposted). In my work, aether bonds like this allow shared sensation, with consent.  
> As with this work itself, those might not ever make it into my long work.  
> I may, at some future point, add to this work to include other "well maybe" NSFW scenes from older drafts and so forth.

The main fireworks were over, though occasional smaller ones went off, down on the island – children playing with miniature versions, mostly. Both of them could hear the laughter even from here. It was far past midnight, but there was no sign of the party stopping. A group of bards had collected over on one side and were leading some kind of singing.

Alphinaud's head was on Berylla's shoulder as they sat side by side, their fingers still tangled together. He heard her yawn, and rubbed his cheek against her a little. “Ready to go back down, and rest?”

“Hm, no, not unless you're tired.”

He made a little hum in his throat, not really an answer, but he sat up.

Berylla turned toward him a little, and he lifted his free hand and cupped her cheek. She shut her eyes and pressed into the contact, her lips brushing the heel of his hand.

Months had passed since they had touched each other. Desire washed over him, strong and sudden, taking his breath away. He curled his fingers, just enough to draw her a little closer, and took her mouth with his.

Her hand came up and curled around the back of his head, fingers tangling in his hair. He felt how she trembled, tasted her yearning, and it was sweeter than any wine he had ever sampled.

Berylla moved, pressing him back, making hungry little whimpers in her throat. He let her have her way, until he lay on his back and she leaned above him. She rained kisses on his jaw and his neck, and her breasts brushed against him, deliciously soft even with the swimsuit between them.

He ran his fingers through her hair as she kissed her way across his chest and then down his belly. “Berylla...”

“Hm?” She looked up at him, licking her lips. “Do you want me to stop...?”

“Gods, no.” He swallowed hard, and couldn't hide his need. “Please...I would feel you touching me, beloved.”

Her eyes gleamed in the starlight, and her smile was shaky, but her hands were swift and sure as she tugged his shorts down and freed him. His hips bucked, involuntarily, and he gritted his teeth – he was already so hard it hurt. When she wrapped her fingers around his base, he groaned – but when her mouth touched him, he couldn't make a sound.

Berylla could see his face as she set her mouth around the head of his cock, could see his eyes roll back in his head, and it made her want to devour him instantly. It took all her will power to take him slowly into her mouth, to move with care so that he didn't come too fast.

Even as she began to move her head up and down with a steady rhythm, she tasted the hot pre-come oozing out of his cock. It made her mouth water and she moaned a little, desperately trying to contain her own lust. She wanted to make him feel good – to feel him coming in her mouth, and then to make him come again... _gods_ how she had missed him.

He thrust up into her, and she let him change the pace, let him grip her hair. The smooth length of him slipping over her tongue, in and out past her lips, was a glorious torment. She wanted him so badly – her sex was already dripping wet just from this – and yet she didn't want to stop.

He was coming all too soon, and she swallowed his hot seed, sloppy in her eagerness, greedily sucking and licking until at last he pulled her away with a ragged gasp.

She crawled back up to kiss his mouth, feeling his hands on her and panting for more.

Alphinaud tugged at the straps of her suit and she rolled her shoulders, helping him slide them off, leaning up to present her breasts to his mouth the moment he yanked the suit down to her waist.

She cried out as he attacked her nipples, a wordless plea.

“Up,” he muttered to her, tugging on the suit, and she obeyed, shifting her body so that he could pull the clinging fabric all the way off of her. Naked under the stars, she knelt over him as he guided her, settling her knees on either side of his head.

Her hands tensed into claws at the first flicker of his tongue across her clit, and she groaned.

“Darlin' – ah gods, Alphinaud – please, oh please, oh _fuck_ – ”

His fingers dug into her hips as he licked and sucked at her sex relentlessly, his eyes half closed. She came in moments, but he did not slow down one bit, drinking of her fully as greedily as she had swallowed him, supping on her like a starving man.

She rode his face, head back, nails digging into her thighs, her mouth open as garbled cries fell from her lips. Only his name made any sense out of the things she was trying to say, until she was simply repeating it over and over, in a rising breathless chant that culminated in a strangled shriek as she went completely stiff and then tumbled off him, limbs sprawling.

Alphinaud rolled onto his knees and pursued her even as she tried weakly to move away. He crawled over her, pinning her to the grass, their legs tangling together. Pebbles dug into his knees as he shifted into a position that let him rut against her. He nuzzled her bare shoulder and panted, “I need more...”

“Alphinaud,” Berylla sobbed, “I can't – oh gods – go s-s-slow...I...”

He tugged at her, coaxing her onto her knees, bracing his own knees outside of hers, slipping into the slick, warm space between her thighs so that his cock rubbed against her labia. It felt even better than he remembered it, and his fingers dug into her hips again, hard enough to bruise, hard enough to make her yelp and then sob again.

But she rocked back against him, and he felt her sex gushing, more slick oozing around his thrusting member. She panted and gasped and whimpered as he began to pound his hips against hers. She begged him with incoherent noises and delicious tremors, wanting more as much as he did, and with a growl he obliged her – harder, faster, until he felt himself getting close to orgasm again.

Then he curled himself against her, sliding one hand around and down until his seeking fingers found her clitoris; with the first touch, she shrieked his name, and as he stroked her with urgent movements, she nearly collapsed to the ground. He yanked her back against him with another growl, and the head of his cock dipped into her sex, the barest graze of her inner flesh. Berylla wailed and Alphinaud's eyes squeezed shut as he groaned her name.

They both came then, too overwhelmed to cry out. He had all he could do to direct his seed onto the ground, and not sink himself into her to fill her womb.

At last they were still, Alphinaud still curled over Berylla's back, panting and sweaty and spent.

Slowly, they moved apart, creeping on hands and knees – too weary to stand. Berylla retrieved her swim suit but could not bring herself to squeeze back into it – every inch of her skin still exquisitely oversensitive. Alphinaud eased back into his swim shorts, and made his way to her side.

“Well you two are a right mess.”

The lovers looked up to see Alisaie sauntering towards them, the blanket over one arm and a basket in her other hand.

“How long have you...” Alphinaud's face and ears were red.

“I didn't see a thing, brother dearest, but I could _hear_ you all the way down on the beach.” She snickered at his expression. “You two are hardly the only ones trysting tonight. Don't worry about it.”

Berylla shivered as the sea breeze cooled the sweat on her skin. “Did you come up here hoping to see?” she managed to tease, though her voice was still wobbly.

“Of course not,” Alisaie answered easily. “I came up here because I figured you would be needing to lie down. One way or another.”

Alphinaud just shook his head. But he got up, swaying only a little, and helped his sister lay out the blanket on a patch of ground _away_ from where he and Berylla had left something of a mess.

Berylla managed to stand, only long enough to stagger over to the blanket. Once there, she lay down quickly – one might even say she collapsed. Alisaie chuckled as she knelt down beside the exhausted, still-naked warrior. “Are you completely worn out, my sweet?”

“Mhm.” Berylla's face was pressed into the blanket, muffling her voice.

Alisaie trailed one fingernail down Berylla's spine, and the warrior shuddered. “ _Alisaie – !_ ”

“Forgive me,” Alisaie purred, sounding not one bit repentant.

“Witch,” Berylla muttered, and then turned on her side and reached for the other woman, tugging her down and wrapping her in a passionate embrace. Alisaie was grinning as Berylla's mouth slanted over hers.

Alphinaud shifted uncomfortably. He wasn't sure he wanted to see this, and yet his feet seemed rooted to the spot. A slithering lust began to stir in his belly as he watched his sister kissing his beloved. When Alisaie pressed her knee between Berylla's legs, rubbing against the warrior's still-dripping sex, he sucked in a breath just the same as Berylla did. His eyes widened as he realized he could _feel_ Berylla's excitement, her pleasure – their aetherial connection, that bond Berylla had forged between them back on the First, was still...

Berylla ground herself against Alisaie's knee, whining down in her throat. She tugged at the halter top, yanking the ties loose and exposing Alisaie's small, high breasts. Instantly, Berylla attacked those breasts, greedily suckling at one nipple while her hand kneaded the other breast. Alphinaud's body reacted to the sight, and he swallowed hard.

Alisaie looked up at him, her cheeks already flushed and her eyes glittering. “If you're going to run away, brother...”

“I...should go...”

“You can stay if you want,” Berylla mumbled, changing from one breast to the other. “ _I_ sure as hells don't mind.”

“It isn't as if you haven't seen me naked before,” Alisaie said, her voice rippling with laughter and lust both. “Seen me pleasure myself, seen me coming. Remember?”

“Gods, Alisaie.” Alphinaud's voice was ragged. “You are the most terrible sibling.”

She didn't reply, her eyes half shut as she buried her fingers in Berylla's hair. The warrior leaned back up and took Alisaie's mouth in another, hungry kiss.

Alphinaud couldn't make himself move. He stood at the edge of the blanket and could not tear his eyes away from what the two women were doing.

Berylla released Alisaie's mouth and nuzzled her neck. “Lovely Alisaie,” she murmured, and long elegant fingers tensed in her hair, long elegant legs rubbed against her. Everything was hazy with lust and pleasure and thrumming aether. An unexpected side benefit to the connection she had forged with the twins. She could feel Alphinaud – his embarrassment but also his rising desire. And she could feel, much more clearly, Alisaie's pleasure as she gently rolled one coral pink nipple between her fingers.

Drunk on loving and passion, greedy for more, Berylla bent her head. “So delicate,” she whispered, “mm, so gods damned beautiful...ah, Alisaie...”

Alisaie hummed in pleasure, her head tilted back as she clung to Berylla. She could feel both of them too – a logical enough thing, to her. She'd suspected their unusual connection would have some kind of side effects...that one of them was this _pleasant_ was...

Berylla's hands were at her hips now, tugging urgently at the fabric, confounded by the hidden ties. Alisaie chuckled and lay back a little, releasing the fastenings and allowing Berylla to pull the scarlet cloth away.

“Gods damn it,” Berylla breathed, “look at you...it's not fair that you should be so bloody damned gorgeous.” But she said it with a smile. Her hands stroked the other woman's body as she kissed Alisaie again. She cupped Alisaie's ass with her hand and squeezed. “Love every inch of you,” she whispered as she eased down, lips caressing jaw, neck, collarbone...

“Ah, Berylla...gods, I love the way you touch me.”

Alisaie shifted on the blanket, even as Berylla rolled onto her knees; the warrior chased after the red mage just a little, until Alisaie was laying on her back nearly in the middle of the blanket, her legs spread wide. Berylla crawled to her, moving quickly, licking and nipping her way from Alisaie's knee up her thigh towards her sex.

Alphinaud's breathing was harsh and his shorts were uncomfortable; he was, incredibly, fully hard once more. He could feel Alisaie now too through their linked aether and it was driving him slightly mad.

Seeing Berylla on her knees, hind end practically pointed at him, was simply too much. He moved like a sleepwalker, shedding his pants once more and easing himself down onto the blanket behind the warrior.

Berylla leaned in and licked Alisaie's sex, one long stroke that delved into her and then dragged across her clitoris. The red mage threw her head back and hissed, “Yes! Gods, Berylla... _please_ , lick me...”

“Oh I will,” Berylla crooned, her voice dark with lust and promises. “I'm gonna lick you and suck you and fuck you _senseless_ , my delicious Alisaie.”

She suited actions to words, immediately, lowering her head and burying her face in Alisaie's cunt.

Behind her, Alphinaud's hands caressed her hips. Alisaie's eyes opened and met her brother's gaze.

“Fuck her, brother,” she whispered. “I want to see her taking your cock.”

He swallowed convulsively, hearing and feeling Berylla's reaction. Swept away on the warrior's lust, on the pleasure echoing down their link, he couldn't think, couldn't speak, could only stroke the soft skin under his hands and slip two fingers inside of Berylla's wet cunt.

The warrior made a noise in her throat, but didn't stop what she was doing. A pulse of wanting shivered through their aether. _Give it to me_ , Berylla's soul whispered to his.

Alisaie moaned as Berylla sucked on her clitoris. “Ah gods – so good, Berylla – more, _please_ don't ever stop...!”

Face coated in the other woman's juices, Berylla smiled, and slipped her tongue inside Alisaie again, stroking in and out, lapping up the fluid that gushed forth. “Sweet Alisaie,” she murmured, and grinned again as the red mage whimpered at the vibration of her voice against her flesh.

She felt Alphinaud's hands on her, in her, and rocked gently back against him. His cock was hot and hard as it pressed against her ass cheek. If he put his cock into her now, it would be the first time he had truly fucked her. She couldn't think of a better way to complete their long, slow progress of intimacy.

She slipped two fingers inside of Alisaie's cunt, and the red mage squealed softly, hips bucking as her hands tangled in Berylla's hair. “ _Gods!_ ” she cried out. “Berylla...please!”

Berylla fucked her fingers in and out of the tight, wet sex, reveling in the sight of Alisaie's reddening cheeks and open, panting mouth. “I love how you sound right now,” she murmured, and placed a kiss on top of the white curls above the sex she was slowly working into a frenzy.

Alphinaud lurched forward, his fingers now gripping Berylla's hips hard. He groaned, a loud and ragged and desperate sound, as his cock sank into her. He saw stars for a moment, and had to simply cling to his beloved's body and let the dizziness fade. He had fantasized for _so long_ , but nothing he could have imagined would have prepared him for this.

Berylla moaned, her walls rippling around him, and lowered her head. He could _hear_ her eating Alisaie's pussy, wet slick noises that mingled with the sound of the three of them panting and moaning. His entire body felt electrified, and sweat stood out all over his skin as he trembled.

Alisaie's hips bucked, grinding herself onto Berylla's thrusting fingers, and her eyes were half shut as she stared up at her brother. “I said,” she panted, “ _Fuck_ her.”

Alphinaud didn't reply, but his body began to move. His eyes seemed to glaze over, as he lost himself in the pleasure. Berylla moaned into Alisaie's sex, and Alisaie gasped and came, senses overloaded for a moment from what she experienced through their aether link.

Berylla did not remove her fingers, only easing up on Alisaie's clit, pressing soft kisses to her mound as she rode out her orgasm on the warrior's fingers. Each thrust was reinforced, echoed, by Alphinaud's hips driving against Berylla's, rocking her body forward. All three of them panted in rhythm with each other, bodies and aether and hearts entwined.

Alisaie's hair was sticking to her face, and each breath was punctuated by a little whimper. She let go of Berylla's hair to knead her own breasts for a moment. Berylla felt her sex slow its undulations, and bent her head to sup once more on the gushing juices, sucking and licking, heedless of the sloppy sounds she was making.

“Harder,” Alisaie hissed, “Alphinaud, damn it, _fuck her harder – !_ ”

Berylla grunted softly as he slammed into her cunt, and then drove her fingers into Alisaie's sex, speeding up her own thrusts. Alisaie keened, her hands clutching the blanket now, back arching.

Alphinaud felt it when his sister came again, felt Berylla's sex clenching around him, and he held Berylla's hips even tighter and slammed into her again. Berylla groaned, and Alisaie began to babble.

“Berylla...gods, your _fingers_...more, please gods, do that _**yes**_ _Berylla_ oh, _**oh**_ , _oh fuck me_ – ”

Her words were lost in a wail as Berylla slipped a third finger inside the red mage's cunt, not missing a stroke, not easing up on the force with which she fucked her lover.

Alphinaud felt Berylla begin to come.

Alisaie felt her brother's release washing over him.

Down on the island, someone found one more very large firework and set it off; it screamed into the night sky on a trail of orange sparks.

Berylla's mouth and fingers were merciless, despite her own climax, and then, as Alphinaud's head tipped back and he cried out, Alisaie shrieked beneath Berylla's touch and came one last time into her mouth.

In the sky, the firework exploded into streamers and comets, the colors glittering off the sweat of three bodies now lying tangled on the blanket up on the cliff.

Berylla came back to herself surrounded by limbs. Her head was pillowed on Alisaie's belly, with the red mage's legs wrapped around her upper body. Alphinaud clung to her, his arms around her waist and his legs tangled with hers, leaning his head against her shoulder.

All three of them still panted heavily, all three of them were coated in sweat and fluids. But she smiled, and sent one gentle pulse of feeling through their shared connection, a wordless wash of love and joy and lazy satisfaction and settling lust.

Alisaie sighed, and her hand lifted and carded through Berylla's hair. From her, an echo of the same feelings, and one thing more. A deep sense of comfort, of finally finding shelter in the storm, safety in the chaos of life; of knowing at last she would never again be alone.

Slowly, Alphinaud shifted, and with a mutter, he summoned two of his carbuncles. The creatures cocked their heads at the three lovers, then with a couple of chattered comments to each other, vanished. They returned swiftly, another blanket held in their teeth, and presented the new blanket to their summoner with pleased flicks of their multiple tails.

As he dragged the blanket over all three of them, the carbuncles stomped about in the grass and smelled of the night. With careful movements, Berylla and Alisaie arranged themselves so that the three of them were lying beside each other, limbs still tangled but not quite as chaotic. When the people were still once more, Noir came over and nosed at them until finding Alisaie beneath the blanket, and wriggled its way in until it had snuggled up under her arm. Seeing this, Luna cheeped indignantly, then imperiously shoved her way under the blanket to curl up against Alphinaud's back.

Alisaie huffed a laugh. “Good boy,” she whispered to Noir.

Swathed in blankets and carbuncles and each other, the three of them sank into sleep.


	2. Unexpected

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alisaie comes looking for comfort...
> 
> Takes place during Shadowbringers time period (shortly before Rak'tika)  
> As before, this might not ever actually be in the long fic, so I'm treating it more as a drabble!

A tap on my door.

I sat up, pawing my hair out of my face. It was yet dark out. Whoever wanted in, it had to be important...but not so important they were yelling for me at least. I got up, slipped a robe over my shoulders, and padded to the door.

I opened it, and a slim figure edged in as soon as the door was open wide enough, then shut the door again.

“A-Alisaie?”

Her eyes were puffy, her hair was a mess, and she didn't have on her coat. “You said,” her voice was thick, “come find you.”

“Oh, honey.” I wrapped my arms around her, feeling her shake even as she put her arms around my waist and clung tightly to me.

Her trembling became sobbing, and then the sobs became soft wails, and I caught her up in my arms as her legs gave out. The storm of tears claimed her completely, so much _worse_ than how she'd cried in the depths of the Coils. I was more than a little alarmed as I carried her over to my bed.

Her hands knotted in my robe, pulling my hair a little where strands had tangled in her fingers. I winced as those strands were pulled free of my scalp, but I didn't make a sound. I got onto the bed and sat down, cradling her all the while. I couldn't have managed it if she weren't still so slender. Her brother out-massed her now, even if they were the same height...

I stroked her, as best I could, tugging her hair loose the rest of the way from its braid and tossing the red ribbon aside. I murmured to her, using my tone to soothe her, the way I might with an amaro.

She didn't speak, at all. The inarticulate sobbing racked her, as if her heart was so very broken that her whole frame must also shatter.

I held her close and rocked back and forth, crooning, tears flowing down my own cheeks.

Only when she finally fell silent did I realize _what_ I'd been crooning.

Words I had never meant to say out loud in her presence.

She shifted in my arms, and I eased my hold on her, moving her so that she was no longer laying across my lap, but settled into the mattress. But when I might have sat up, pulled away, she gripped my robe.

Gray-blue eyes gazed up at me, still glittering with tears. Such beautiful eyes, as lovely as her brother's...I shook myself a little, and offered up a small smile.

“Let me get you a cold cloth,” I began, but my voice died as she lifted one hand, settling her palm on my cheek.

“Say it again,” she whispered.

“Alisaie...” My face burned. “I'm sorry, I have no business saying that to you.”

“And why not? Because of my brother?”

I knew when her mouth quirked that my blush had deepened even further. I tried to keep my voice calm. “It's not – well, okay, he's part of it but that's not the main reason. You're grieving. It's wrong of me to say such things when you're hurting like this.”

“Then why did you say it?”

I looked away. “I'm weak, and a fool,” I whispered. “It hurts me to see you hurt so much.”

“So you didn't mean it.”

“I _meant_ everything I said.” I met her eyes again. “But I don't want you to feel like you have to act on it. Or even acknowledge it.”

“But what if I _want_ to act on it?”

“Alisaie, you can't be thinking clearly right now...”

She gripped my robe in both hands and pulled herself up. I heard a stitch pop as she hauled herself close and took my mouth with hers.

I wasn't prepared for the shock of sensation as her lips crashed into mine, and I gasped. That was all the opening she needed. Her tongue plundered my mouth, her kiss as fierce as any attack I'd ever seen her launch against an enemy. I felt dizzy, and my hands closed on her shoulders, instinct and desire taking over for one glorious moment.

I pushed her away, gasping for air, but she came right back, setting her petal-soft lips to my jaw, then down my neck, rapid light kisses like dance steps. My head tipped back in spite of myself, even as I tried to protest.

“Alisaie, this isn't...you shouldn't... _oh_...Alisaie...!”

I wasn't expecting her next move. All the breath rushed out of me as she bore me down to the mattress. I was on my back, sprawled at an angle across the bed, and she was straddling me, all before I could even try to resist.

The grip of her thighs against me was incredibly strong.

She yanked my robe down, pinning my arms with it, and leaned down to feast on my neck again. I moaned, shuddering under her.

“We shouldn't...” I tried again, breathless and weak.

She set her hands on either side of my head and pinned me with her gaze. “Why? Give me one good reason why, Berylla. One that isn't my damnable brother or some shite about my age.”

I stared into those fierce eyes and swallowed hard. “You're in a, an emotionally compromised state right now, and, and, I can't make you even a single promise and,” I gulped, “gods dammit Alisaie, I don't want to lose a friend because I couldn't keep my mouth shut.”

“You lovely, glorious, gods damned fool.” She set her cheek against mine, ignoring the dampness of her tears and my own. “Did I _ask_ you for any promises, damn it? Do you really think me incapable of still being your friend – even after I've made you come so hard you can't see straight?”

Sensations stabbed through me at her words and I gasped, then whimpered softly. I was shaking as I tried to answer. “B-b-but Alisaie...I...oh gods help me.”

Her lips were gentle, her breath hot as a furnace, as she whispered against my ear. “I have wanted this...wanted _you_...for years now. I kept silent because I saw how you and Alphinaud were. But damn it, for once he isn't getting what he wants before I do.” Delicately she traced the shell of my ear with the tip of her tongue. “For one night, I want you to be _mine_.”

“That's...I d-don't...it wasn't a c-competition...?” The room was spinning, it was too hot. I couldn't seem to get a full breath. I felt as out of control as a ship tossed in a tempest. Part of me knew I could hurl her off of me, I could force her to leave, but far more of me didn't want to do any such thing. Even the part of me that keened in fear of hurting her couldn't drown out the rising storm of wanting that threatened to capsize rational thought entirely.

She bit my earlobe and I yipped. “ _Emotionally compromised_ , indeed,” she growled. “I came here because I didn't want to be alone. I didn't _intend_ to burst into tears when I got here, you know.”

“Wha...you d-didn't? But T-Tesleen...?”

“Don't.” She became very still. “I won't stand for you trying to take on guilt that isn't yours, Berylla. I haven't forgotten her. I never will. But she's gone, and you're not. I'm not. We're both...” she paused a moment to kiss me, “ _here_ ,” another kiss, “and I want to make you _scream_.”

Another shudder of wanting jolted through me. Her smile was devilish. “You seem to like it when I say such things,” she murmured.

I could only stare up at her, utterly disarmed. She hadn't done a thing and yet I was completely defeated. I managed a small nod, feeling abruptly timid.

“I want you,” she murmured, kissing me again, dragging her teeth against my bottom lip. “I want to taste every inch of you. I want to bring you off again and again until you can't take anymore...and then I want to push you over the edge anyway. I want to _ruin_ you, Berylla.”

My chest heaved and my eyes were damp as my hips rocked against her in silent plea.

“Say yes,” she commanded, her mouth soft and sweet against mine.

“Y-y-yes...” I breathed.

She growled in satisfaction as she took my mouth once more.

She didn't let me up, didn't let me go. My arms were still pinned by the way she had pulled down my robe. Her hand slid underneath my camisole and then she was pulling the thin fabric up and up, exposing my breasts to her insatiable mouth. I gasped and struggled weakly as she feasted on my nipples. Unable to touch her, to stop her, I felt vulnerable and almost frightened by her intensity. She sucked hard on my nipple and I cried out, my voice trembling, my eyes squeezed shut.

She came back to my mouth, her kiss gentler this time. “Look at me.”

I felt the tears escape as I opened my eyes. Her expression was tender as she cupped my face in her hands, her skin cool against mine. “Don't be afraid,” she told me. “You know I won't hurt you. Right?”

“I know, b-but Alisaie, I'm s-s-scared anyway...” I swallowed hard, ashamed of my admission. But she held me still and kissed me, a slow and sweet kiss that undid me even more than the ones before it.

“You're thinking entirely too much,” she whispered.

I felt frozen for one second, remembering another world – a lifetime ago – and another lover, who had said almost exactly the same thing to me.

“Tell me what will make it easier for you not to think, Berylla.”

My throat felt tight as I said it. “T-t-tie me. My, my wrists. Put s-something in my hands...to, to grab onto.”

“Very well.”

She released me, and got off the bed. It took me a second to sit up and look at her. She had stepped away a few feet.

“Come here, and take off your clothes,” she said quietly. “I want to see you.”

Heat washed across me as I got up and came over to stand in front of her. She still had to tilt her head up to me, but as I shrugged out of my robe, her eyes were on my body and not my face. As I tugged my camisole off over my head, Alisaie paced around me, slowly, her hands clasped behind her back lightly. I shivered in the cool night air as I tugged down the loose linen pants I wore to sleep in, taking my smalls with them in the same motion.

I straightened and stood still, completely naked, my clothes in a puddle at my feet. Alisaie stopped behind me, and my skin prickled.

When I felt her fingers stroking along my spine, I sucked in a breath. Then she had hold of my hair, tugging gently.

“Kneel down.”

I felt dizzy again as I obeyed the soft command. What had I gotten myself into now? There had never been any hint that Alisaie could be like...like this.

For one moment I wondered if I'd survive the night with her. But oh...what a way to go it would be...

She had let go of my hair, and I heard her moving, still behind me. The soft sigh of cloth against skin told me what she was doing, and this time when her hands returned to touch me I was more prepared for it.

I was less prepared for the feeling of leather against my wrists.

“Sh,” she soothed me, though I hadn't made a sound. “It's just my belt, Berylla.”

Memory slammed into me again, and reality stuttered for a second as my mind recalled that night in the intercessory, and Haurchefant standing behind me.

But then her scent wafted across me, so utterly unlike Haurchefant's, and I steadied a little more as she tugged the leather snug against my wrists. Her belt was narrow, not like any of my own, and she hadn't placed the belt buckle in my palm the way Haurchefant had done.

She tugged at my hair, pulling it to one side, and her lips brushed against the back of my neck. I felt her fingers curling around my hands, and then an odd warmth that became solid against my palms.

I made a questioning noise in my throat. “Close your hands around it,” Alisaie said, her hair brushing against my shoulder blades, tickling me.

Experimentally, I squeezed, and was rewarded with a slight stinging pain, as if I held a small, knotted branch in my hands. Had she somehow summoned the thing into being? But she was pacing around me again, and it no longer mattered, because she was naked now too.

I stared at her shamelessly. She was slender – no, _willowy_ , that was the word. She moved like a predator as she circled me, trailing her fingers across my skin. I could see her muscles flexing beneath that flawless ivory skin. The curls at the apex of her thighs were pearly white in the lantern's light. The scent of her wrapped around me, floral but spicy, reminding me of the riot of exotic _ylani_ blooms, back in Costa del Sol. Her toenails were painted the same delicate coral shade as the lip gloss she so often wore, and as I raised my eyes, I saw that her pert nipples were the same exact color. My mouth watered suddenly, wanting to taste of them.

She paused behind me again, and then her hands were sliding across the tops of my shoulders, rubbing lightly, gathering my hair again and pulling it to drape across my front on one side. I could feel the sword calluses on her fingertips as she traced a little pattern across my back. Then her breasts were pressing against my shoulder blades and her lips were hot on my neck, and I hissed a little as her hands slipped around to cup and knead my breasts. She rubbed my nipples delicately, and those calluses made me whine in my throat at the delicious friction they caused. I whined again, higher, when her mouth fastened on the place where my shoulder and neck met and she began to suck at my flesh.

I leaned back against her, my hands tensing on the branch, arching just enough to press my breasts into her hands. She broke off her suckling and moved her attentions to my earlobe, and I could hear her humming very softly as she dragged her teeth across the tender flesh.

“Ah, Alisaie...” I couldn't manage more than sighing her name.

She flattened her hands, stroking her palms across my nipples in teasing circles, and her chuckle was low and dark in my ear. “Whatever happened to the stoic hero, hmm?”

I turned my head toward her, trying to kiss her, but she moved away, caressing me as she came around to stand in front of me.

“Spread those lovely legs of yours,” she told me, and without a blush, I obeyed her, opening my knees, letting my weight settle back.

My heart was pounding and some part of me still fretted, a persistent whine in the back of my head that this wasn't the best idea, but so much more of me was caught up in the moment, eager for her touch. I had been lonely for so long, and though Alphinaud and I were moving forward, we were moving slowly...

And my body cried out for this, for anything she would give me, here and now.

She knelt between my legs and wound her arms around my neck, claiming my mouth in another of those ferocious kisses. I kissed her back, this time, and her arms tightened for a moment. Her breasts rubbed against me. Her skin was softer than anything I had ever felt in my life.

She ran her fingers through my hair, tugging gently as she did, and when I let my head fall back, she once more rained kisses along my jaw and throat. I hummed in pleasure, then sucked in a quick breath as I felt her gently nip me.

She freed one hand from my hair and trailed her fingers along my collarbone, and down to my breast. As she tasted the skin at the hollow of my throat, her thumb rubbed lazy circles across my nipple, and I made another small noise, even as my knees spread further apart.

Her mouth moved lower, lower, and I tried to lift my head, but her fingers knotted in my hair and I held still. When her mouth covered the nipple she had been playing with, I groaned, and flexed my hands around the branch again.

She didn't suck on my nipple for long before she began trailing kisses along my chest bone and then latched onto my other nipple. I shivered as I felt her voice, humming against the tender flesh.

Then she let go of my hair, and as I lifted my head, she was rising up again, her breasts brushing across mine as she claimed my mouth. But now both her hands slipped down along my sides, then around my waist. She pressed close against me and her thigh lifted just enough to tease across my sex.

“Alisaie,” I whimpered into her mouth.

“Hm?” She leaned back just enough to meet my eyes. The devilish smile was back. “Is there something the matter?”

I bit my lip, and her eyes glittered as her smile widened. “Do you want me to touch you, Berylla?”

I nodded, but she only lowered her head and kissed the hollow of my throat again. “Tell me,” she said, her lips brushing against my skin. “Tell me how you want me to touch you.”

I gulped. “I...” The words stuck in my throat for a moment, my cheeks burned. Her head drifted lower, kisses trailing down the swell of my breast. I tipped my head down and watched as she very deliberately ran just the tip of her tongue along the edge of my aureola. I could feel her hands kneading my buttocks. “I want...you to touch me with, with your fingers,” I managed.

“Oh?” She lapped her tongue across my nipple.

“Gods,” I panted. “P-play with my clit, Alisaie. Touch me...there...oh!”

She had set her mouth around my nipple and sucked hard.

“Please!” I cried. “Please use your f-fingers on me...!”

Her hands slid forward across my hips. Then they were on my thighs. She never let up on my nipple even when I went stiff for a moment at the touch of her hand against my labia.

I couldn't take my eyes off her face, as her eyes drifted closed. Her lashes were dark gray, and her cheeks were flushed pink. She slid her fingers against my clit, and I let out a low, long moan. My thighs trembled, and I could feel the wetness sliding down them, as her hand worked against me. “Oh gods, Alisaie,” I choked.

She released my nipple then, opening her eyes half way as she rested her cheek against my breast and gazed up at me. “What?”

I hissed as she stroked the fingers of her other hand inside of me. “So good,” I gasped. “So, _oh_ Alisaie, oh gods...!”

She smiled, tenderly, her eyes drinking in the sight of me. But her hands were anything but tender.

She had three fingers inside of me, and her other hand continued to stroke my clit in some way I couldn't even understand but _oh, it was good_.

She started slowly, and picked up the pace in little steps. My head fell back as I groaned and panted, and when I felt her set her mouth to work again, this time on my other nipple, I cried her name softly.

She responded by driving her fingers into me harder. Every time I uttered her name, she fucked me harder or faster or _both_ , until I was all animal pleasure, my hands clutching the branch, my muscles burning from the position I was in, my scalp prickling with sweat. My nipples ached from her relentless attentions and my sex throbbed. I was reduced to whimpers and broken little cries, my hips rocking against her.

There was no warning before I was coming all over her hands.

My breath left me in a rush and I went stiff, my mouth open, my walls clamping down on her so hard she grunted a little. Her teeth sank into the upper swell of my breast, and somehow that made me suck in a breath and shout her name one final time.

She pulled her hands away at once, supporting me before I fell over. My hair was in my face as I sagged forward. I heard a clatter as the branch fell from my numbed hands. My thighs were on the verge of cramping, and all the places she'd sucked and nipped burned and ached. None of the discomfort mattered: I felt it, but it was meaningless in the greater wash of exhausted bliss that hazed everything. Her arms were around me, our hair tangling together, and she was panting almost as hard as I was.

She fumbled a little, tugging at her belt to untie me, and I shifted as I could to help her.

Presently, the leather fell away, and I brought my arms forward. My shoulders popped, but I ignored that and wrapped her in my embrace. My head lay against her shoulder as I sprawled inelegantly before her. I was shuddering still from what she'd done to me.

“We should, ah, get off the floor.” Her voice was quiet, but I heard the breathlessness of it, and felt how she shook in my arms.

Mere feet away from the bed as we were, I didn't even bother getting up. I crawled to the bed and then into it, not caring that she laughed at the way I flopped face down onto the mattress.

She climbed into the bed and stretched herself out beside me, and I turned onto my side to face her. I lifted my hand and stroked her cheek even as she scraped her hair out of her face.

“Are you all right?” she murmured, her beautiful eyes darkening with concern.

“I think so.” My voice was hoarse, but I smiled a little to reassure her. “Just need to catch my breath.”

She ran one hand along my arm, and then rested her palm on the middle of my chest. Her eyes narrowed and I felt a tingle, like lightning chasing across my skin. Then the warmth of healing magic flowed across me. The places she had sucked raw, the aches in my muscles, the soreness in my shoulders, all of it melted. The marks on me were not gone – Alisaie wasn't that sort of healer – but I was no longer in any pain.

When she pulled her hand back, I caught her wrist and lifted her fingers to my lips to kiss them. I could smell myself on her skin.

I leaned in, then, letting her hand go, and kissed her, very gently. “My turn now,” I whispered.

She smiled, a lazy smile, and propped her head up on one hand. “Go on then.”

I let my fingers trace a path down from her cheek to her shoulder and then to her breast. She hummed softly and ran her fingers through my hair. I bent my head and pressed my lips to her collarbone. Her breast fit in my palm almost perfectly. When my thumb caressed that coral-pink nipple, she gave a tiny gasp.

I set my mouth on her, fluttering my tongue across the tightening skin of her nipple, sliding my hand around to scrape my nails gently down her back from her shoulder to her hip. Once at her hip I let my fingers spread out to cover the curve of her ass, and squeezed, tugging her closer, sliding my thigh between her legs.

She was so delicate! I was reminded of the elegant and beautiful tea cups of Ishgard, and how I had cradled them with such care. But then her hand tightened in my hair and the illusion of fragility vanished. I shifted, dragging my mouth up to the point of her shoulder, and whispered against her skin.

“Darling Alisaie.” I traced the line of her jaw with kisses. “Brave, beautiful Alisaie.” I kissed the corner of her mouth, and pushed her onto her back. She tilted her head back as I traced my fingers down her throat again, and gave a soft moan when I took the silent invitation and set my mouth over her pulse. I suckled gently, my teeth just grazing the skin, and she hissed in pleasure and arched against me. I rubbed my thigh against her, and felt dampness across my skin as she ground her hips down onto me.

I shifted so that I could slip my hand down her body, and bent my head to lavish attention on her other nipple. The scent of her, the taste of her skin, had me wanting more. But I made myself move slowly. If this was going to be one night only, then by every god on every star, I was going to make sure we both remembered it.

I trailed my finger tips through the curls that I had so admired before, and her hands landed on my shoulders, the fingers digging in. The sound she made was so very soft, if I hadn't been listening so closely I might have missed it. I lifted my head as I dipped my fingers lower...lower...

Her eyes shut as I slid just the tips of my fingers across her clit. “Berylla,” she whispered.

I watched her face, coating my fingers in the wetness of her, brushing against her clit and then stroking her labia, lower each time, feeling her shiver with building anticipation.

Her face and throat were flushed – she even _blushed_ elegantly, for gods' sake. She panted softly and her head lifted, her eyes opening just a little. “Are you going to tease me _all_ night?”

It was meant to sound demanding, but the breathless tone of her voice made it almost a plea.

“Not all night,” I murmured, and kissed her. “Just until you ask me nicely.”

Her eyes widened and she almost frowned, but then I curled my finger, sliding it along the inner lips in the same motion I might use with my tongue. Her eyelids fluttered and she gasped. Her voice went high and breathy as she pleaded with me. “Berylla...please... _give me your fingers!_ ”

I rested my forehead on her shoulder and slid my first two fingers inside of her, and even as I did, I set my thumb just beside her clit. She clutched my shoulders, and threw her head back as she groaned.

She was tight around my fingers, tight and hot and so very slick – I murmured a curse. “Fuck, Alisaie, you're _perfect_ – ”

I rocked my hand, making my thumb slide against her clit. Her nails bit into my shoulders and her hips snapped up against me, burying my fingers in her. Another groan seemed wrung from her throat, and as I looked up at her, I could see her eyes were squeezed shut. The color in her cheeks was hectic, her breath ragged. “Lovely Alisaie,” I crooned, and drew my fingers back, only to add one more.

She let out a strangled squeal, and I held still for a moment, watching, waiting. But her hips rocked against me, wordlessly begging, and slowly I moved again, matching her rhythm and making slow circles with my thumb against her clit.

“Yes, like that, like _that_ Berylla,” she panted, “Gods, don't ever stop – ah! There, right _there_ , do that, _just_ like that...!”

I dipped my head and suckled on her nipple, pleased when I heard how her voice went high and breathy again. She babbled, frantic, as I began to kiss my way lower, scooting down in the bed inch by inch.

I pressed a kiss to the damp curls atop her mound and she squealed again. Her hands clenched in the blankets. “ _Berylla!_ ”

I felt her coming on my fingers, and groaned with lust. I scrambled down until I had my head between her legs, and pulled my fingers out of her, only to bury my face against her sex and greedily start lapping at her. Her hips bucked wildly and I held her down, pressing her thighs apart and sliding my tongue inside of her, feeling her walls rippling even as she cried out. I licked and sucked and feasted, and when I felt her begin to wind down, I slipped two fingers into her again.

Her legs pressed against my shoulders, the muscles quivering. I fucked her with slow, hard strokes, and alternated flicking my tongue across her clit and sucking on that little pearl. Sweat stood on her skin, and she was reduced to wordlessly keening, unable even to form coherent words.

Her heels thudded on my back as she arched one final time – her body went taut and she shrieked, and I felt her walls clench hard. I stopped moving, and let her come, let her calm, my fingers still within her. I let up on her clit, and gently kissed the skin of her inner thighs as her sex gradually let go of me. I could feel my own sex rippling, not quite a true orgasm, but pleasurable nonetheless.

When she lay still and spent, I pulled out of her, slow and gentle, and licked my fingers.

Then I got up and fetched a cloth and a shallow bowl of water.

Her eyes stayed closed as I bathed her cheeks and her eyelids, wiping away sweat and tears. She wasn't asleep – though I couldn't have said how I knew that.

Once I had finished, and was lying beside her in the bed again, she spoke, eyes still shut.

“I love you.”

I slid my arm under her shoulders, and tucked her against me. Moving as if her limbs were made of lead, she snuggled up, her leg over mine, her head on my shoulder. I stroked her back, soothing the still-quivering muscles, and breathing in the lovely scent of her.

After a little while, she stopped quivering, and I let my hand rest on her flank, my fingers caressing the smooth curve of her hip, the gentle swell of her ass. Through the open window, I could hear a bit of song floating up from the Quadrivium, something slow and sweet, though I couldn't quite make out the words.

I had almost drifted off when Alisaie moved again.

She had curled up against me with her hands tucked against her chest, but now those elegant long fingers of hers were delicately stroking my breasts once more. She lifted her head to nuzzle my neck, and murmured, “Are you recovered?”

“You're going to be the death of me,” I answered, but I squeezed her ass and tilted my head down to capture her mouth with mine.

She chuckled as she kissed me.

Neither of us felt the need to move fast. Her mouth placed kisses across my skin, softer than butterfly wings; my fingers ran through her hair, letting the silky strands flow across my palms and my wrists. When I explored the tender skin of her ears with my tongue, she dragged her nails across my back and my ribs, and both of us hissed and then giggled softly.

Her fingers slid against my sex, light strokes that barely dipped into the wetness already reawakening there. I shifted slightly, canting her hips at just the right angle for me to cup her rear, and then slide my middle finger inside of her.

She let out a low moan and wriggled, her breasts mashing against mine for a moment. “Oh, you don't play fair,” she muttered, though she was smiling even as she kissed me again.

Then she was writhing, and the next thing I knew she had twisted round so that she knelt beside me, one knee brushing my ribs as she laid her head on the upper part of my thigh. Bent as she was, I had no trouble slipping my hand right back where I wanted it, cupping her sex.

But I didn't exactly have the upper hand, because she was pressing my thighs apart and her breath fanned the curls above my sex and then I was the one moaning. Her fingers were against me, holding me open to her, and her tongue swiped across my clit. “Alisaie,” I groaned.

Even as she slid two fingers inside of me, even as she began to lick and suck at me in earnest, I slipped my own fingers into the heat of her. She moaned and the vibration of her voice made my hips buck even as I hissed in pleasure at the sensation.

“Damn it.” I left off fucking her with my fingers, only so that I could grasp her hips and physically haul her into place, straddling me, where I could lift my head and feast on her once more. “Delicious Alisaie,” I told her, growling, and then I plunged my tongue inside her.

I was rewarded by another jolt of added pleasure as she whimpered. In moments she was gasping, trembling on top of me. Her fingers shuddered and then, when I slipped my own fingers into her once more so that I could concentrate on her clit again, she began to talk. Wet sounds punctuated every moan as she kissed and licked and chanted my name.

“Ah, your fingers, mm, Berylla...your hands are huge...gods, right there, please do that, mm, oh gods, _more_...!”

Her hips ground against me and I felt her start to come. Her fluids were spilling over her thighs and across my chest, even as I lapped and licked and sucked, and she cried out, wailing, as her walls clenched around my thrusting fingers.

She wrenched away from me, rolling to the side, and I started to sit up. I wanted to pursue her, to devour that delectable sex until she cried for mercy.

But she was quick as a ferret and reversed herself, grabbing my head in her hands and planting a series of fervent, damp kisses on my mouth. No elegance, now, she was panting and sloppy and streaked with sweat and come. I had never seen anything more intoxicating in my life – in this moment she was the sexiest thing I could ever imagine.

“I want you on your knees,” she demanded, her eyes a little wild, her smile feral.

 _She could ask me to set fire to myself and I would consider it right now_.

I nodded, and she let me go so that I could arrange myself.

She trailed her nails along my back as I got on all fours. “Do you know what aether sex is?” she murmured.

I twitched. “Yeah. Kinda.” I waited, nervously, to see what she would do. I had much better control now...but I had never had occasion to test that control. Not like _this_...

“I've my own variation on it,” she told me. “If you trust me enough...?”

“I.” I took a deep breath, and sat up on my knees for a moment, to meet her eyes squarely. “I trust you. I don't...know if you can trust me. I've had...trouble with this before, with um. Control.”

She reached out and stroked my cheek. “Don't be afraid. I'll be the one in control.”

“W-W-What are you,” my voice trembled, and I swallowed hard and tried again. “What are you going to do, Alisaie?”

I felt her aether moving, and saw a glow building around the fingers of her hand – the one not touching me. My eyes went to it and widened.

I had known she could form solid things out of thin air and will and power. After all, her rapier had once been nothing more than aether and sheer will.

I realized that she had literally created that branch like object earlier, for me to hold onto. What was forming in her hand now was...was...

“Wicked white,” I whispered, and she chuckled.

She kissed me, a long slow kiss, and dragged her hand down from my cheek, along my neck, down my belly. As she did, she drew a delicate thread of aether out of me, a mere wisp of power compared to what was coalescing in her hand. I could feel her wrapping that power, braiding it into her own creation. Abruptly I could – faintly – feel her hand, touching it, cradling it as it took on weight and substance.

“On your knees again, now,” she told me as she released my mouth.

I could see the thing in her hand, and swallowed hard as I realized her intention. _It has two heads...she's going to_...

“Oh my gods,” I murmured even as I sank back down, even as she moved around to kneel behind me. I could feel her hand, still, as if her fingers pressed lightly against my clit, a phantom pressure. The sensation intensified, and I heard her hissing behind me, and knew she had inserted one end of the toy into her own sex. _Oh gods, if I can feel what happens to that thing_...I trembled for a moment, anticipation and uncertainty mingling and dancing along my skin.

Her hands stroked my hips, and I felt her thumbs dig into my ass cheeks for a moment. “Raise,” she said softly. “Lift yourself, Berylla. Open to me...yes, that's right. Drop your head, good.”

My hair fell across my eyes as my cheek pressed into the mattress, and then she was gripping my hips and shifting and –

“Fuck!” The groan felt torn from my throat. I could feel the girth of it, but I could feel _her_ pleasure at the same time. The toy stretched me, so much farther than fingers ever could, and I nearly wept at how good it felt. A second later I gasped in shock as the damn thing _flexed_.

“Alisaie!”

Her laugh was breathless. “How is it, my sweet?”

“Oh gods, how are you – ah!” I rocked back against her, instinct and need taking over. “It's – ah, gods – it's good, so good...”

“Moan for me, Berylla.” Her voice was low, almost a growl. “Let me hear you falling apart.”

I couldn't have stopped myself if I'd wanted to. She thrust against me, those powerful thighs tensing – our linked aether translating _her_ sensations into my body, _her_ lust, _her_ pleasure, mingling with mine. I was making noises, but words were beyond me already.

It was nothing like being with a man. It was nothing like anything I had ever done. Not Moenbryda, not Y'Shtola.

I felt it when she found the perfect angle, the thrusts that would bring both of us the most pleasure. I felt her walls trembling, felt the tension in her, and understood that my own pleasure fed into hers, and fed into mine, and on and on, driving us both mad.

She kept it up for far longer than I would have believed possible, kept going until we were both reduced to soft cries and panted curses, kept going until at last – “Alisaie, I can't, I can't, oh fuck!”

A rising wail poured out of me, until I fell silent, no air left in my lungs, my whole body taut. I was nothing but pleasure, nothing but a string plucked and resonating, I couldn't see, couldn't breathe – my sight went gray – and then Alisaie was bucking against me. She shrieked and then collapsed, the aetherial construct disintegrating as she lost control.

Both of us fell onto our sides, the bedclothes in chaos around us.

After a long time, she whispered, “Berylla? Are you all right?”

“I'm dead.”

She began to giggle, weakly, and I laughed too. Both of us were too exhausted to do more than wheeze for a few minutes. I watched her through half-closed eyes as she somehow found enough energy to get up and get the cloth. This time, it was she who wiped me down with cool water, and she murmured and got me covered with a blanket, tucked a pillow under my head.

After she had seen to herself, she came back to the bed, and combed my hair gently, spreading it across the pillow as I drowsed.

She got up to put the comb back, and I managed one word.

“Stay.”

She hesitated, then came back to the bed. “Are you sure?”

“Please,” I whispered. “Don't leave me alone.”

She bit her lip and I saw the glitter of tears, a shimmer in the dim light.

“Please,” I begged, my voice nearly gone.

She climbed into the bed, and lay beside me. This time it was me who snuggled in. I rested my head on her shoulder, comforted and confident that she would hold me, that I wouldn't break her.

“Darling Alisaie,” I sighed. “Thank you. For loving me. For letting me love you.”

“Of course,” she whispered, and held me tight as I drifted into dreams.

*

She was already kissing me when I woke up.

Honestly it was a most pleasant way to be woken up, with soft little kisses to my cheek, my jaw, my shoulder...I opened my eyes and met her gaze. She leaned up on one arm, and kissed me, a lusty, deep kiss that made me tingle from head to toe.

“Are you always this amorous in the mornings?”

But I smiled and caressed her back, her shoulders, and let her kiss me a little more.

I knew she was dragging things out, delaying the moment that we would get out of bed and go back to “just friends.”

“Hey.”

“Hmm?”

“I love you.” I pressed my lips to her forehead. “Being with you like this was such a gift. I won't ever forget these hours spent with you.”

“I, too, shan't forget,” she murmured. Then her arms tightened around me and she hid her face against my collarbone.

“Sh, sh,” I stroked her hair. “Precious Alisaie, wonderful Alisaie. It's all right.”

“You call me so many things...why?”

“Because there's one thing I can't call you.”

She looked up, as I knew she would. I smiled.

“I can't call you mine. You're not _my_ Alisaie, not anyone's at all.” I brushed my fingers across her cheek, softer than rose petals. “You're so very beautiful,” I whispered. “So fierce, like a falcon. And like a falcon, you need to fly free.”

“If I'm a falcon, then what are you?”

I shut my eyes for a moment. My heart ached. “A sword. Nothing more.” I opened my eyes again and met her gaze. “And that's how it has to be, and you know it.”

“And Alphinaud?”

“You already know how I stand with him. Do you want me to say it out loud?”

Her mouth turned down. “No.”

“Gods, you even _pout_ elegantly,” but my laugh was only a puff of air. “Listen to me.” I turned us over so I could lean above her, cupping her cheek in my hand.

She kissed my palm, and I brushed my nose against hers.

“I can't change the way I am, Alisaie. I know you want me to be all yours – and only yours. But I'm not made that way. I love you – _and_ Alphinaud, and others. I love all of the Scions, though I admit it's not quite the same as this, between you and I.” I stroked her cheekbone with my thumb. “I won't ask you to change for me – I won't ask you to share me. It's too much to ask, for you.”

“I – ”

“Sh.” I set my finger over her lips for a moment. “It's okay. You are rare, and precious, and incredible, and you deserve to love many, many people before you really settle with someone. And whoever that fortunate soul is – they had better treat you like the treasure you are.”

She half smiled, but I knew by the way her hands still clung to me that I hadn't yet said enough. I could feel it in her, somehow – an old, old fear, an ache that I had soothed once before.

“I am not Louisoix.” I saw her eyes go wide and then glisten. “I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to disappear. I promised before, and I still mean to keep that promise now. I won't leave you alone.” I kissed her, instead of saying the rest. _Even if I die, I'll come back, and I'll find you_.

She was choking back sobs, and I rolled over once more and gathered her close to me. “I didn't think this would be so difficult,” she sniffled into my chest. “One night, I told myself. That will be enough. But I need you...”

“I need you, too.” I soothed her. “I need you to still stand at my side. I don't know how to explain – I don't know the future, I don't understand a lot of things – but what I do know is that I need you to stay with me as my friend, even if not as a beloved.”

“Why?”

“Because I'm frightened, Alisaie.” She went still in my arms, then raised herself to look at me.

“Are you?”

“I'm fucking terrified,” I told her, letting her see it for herself. “That Ascian scares me,” I whispered, “I'm afraid of Emet-Selch, and of the Exarch, honestly. I don't have a head for schemes and untangling mysteries, and both of them fucking _reek_ of trickery. I can't decide if it's good trickery or bad, but definitely something's off.” I eased her off of me. “So you see, I need you more than I ever have. Will you protect me, Alisaie?”

She turned on her belly and hugged my pillow, hiding her face. I petted her hair a little, then sat up, and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. I'd said everything I could. Now it was up to her to decide what she would do.

She stayed there, while I got up and showered. I heard her moving around as I dried off and put on my robe. When I stepped back out of the bathing chamber, she was pulling on her boots.

I watched as she finished fastening them, and stood up, and turned to face me.

“I meant what I said last night,” she began, then cleared her throat, glancing away from me for a moment. “I'm still your friend, Berylla. I'm not going to leave you to fight this battle alone. I'll watch your back.”

I smiled at her. “I'm glad. Really, really glad.”

She came over to me and put her arms around my waist, resting her forehead on my shoulder. “I'm not one for speeches, you know that. I just...want you to know. I think I'll still love you the day I die.”

I pressed my lips to her hair, and shut my eyes as I held her.

When she eased back, I let her go.

“I've just time for a shower before our morning meeting,” she said, her voice brisk even though her expression was still pensive.

“I'll see you there,” I said quietly, and didn't move as she turned and left.

The door opened and then closed.

I looked at the chaos of the bedclothes and scrubbed at my eyes. Last night had been something I could never have predicted. Completely unexpected.

Rare. Precious. Incredible. Beautiful.

Maybe it had been a bad idea. Maybe I had still hurt her. I hoped not, but I had no way to know and nothing to spare for worry. It was time to get back to work.


	3. A Surprise for Berylla

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alphinaud has decided he wants to try something new...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was discussion about Alphinaud in sexy stockings.  
> Then there was a bit of art of same.  
> And then this happened in my head.

“Sit there,” he pointed at the couch, “and wait. You cannot get up until I say.”

Mystified, I obeyed.

He went behind the dressing screen then. I could hear him unfastening his coat. I kept quiet and just listened; but I really wanted to ask him what was going on. What kind of surprise was this, anyway? New clothes of some kind seemed obvious but...why all the hiding behind the screen?

The sounds were quieter now; he had his coat off. I heard the unmistakable quiet click of the metal clips on his boots – six of them down the leg – and then a thump. Six more clicks, and another thump, and I knew he had his boots off now too. _I've seen him undress plenty of times, there's no real reason to hide that from me_...

A rustle of silk, and of leather, and I blinked as I saw his pants land on the floor – I could see the belt and the top part of them just peeking out around the screen. He usually didn't throw his clothes on the floor...my curiosity was only getting worse, now.

I sat forward a bit, resting my arms on my knees, and listened harder. But he was almost silent, now – was that a soft mutter? Or a whisper of cloth?

Then, he stepped around the screen and into view.

 _Oh...my_...

White silk stockings clung to his legs, lovingly, all the way up to his thighs. A white silk garter belt held them in place, and as he turned I saw that the white silk underwear was damn near see through and...and...

I bit my lip hard. “Oh my _gods_ , Alphinaud.” My voice was breathless. My heart was already racing just at the sight of him...and the thought of touching him was...

He struck a pose, turned in profile to me, and looked at me coyly, with his unbound hair falling over one eye. “So, you like it, then?”

“ _Like_ it? I – Fury, Alphinaud! You look – you – ” I couldn't find the words. He strutted towards me a few steps and my mouth went dry at the way the light rippled across silk and muscle. When he posed again, teasing me, I couldn't keep the whine out of my tone. “C-come _here_ , dammit.”

Even as he came towards me I had to bite my knuckles to keep myself seated. The most primitive parts of my brain were howling for him – I wanted to just devour him – and the way he smirked at me, I was certain he knew just how he was affecting me.

Finally he was in reach, and I grabbed for him. He chuckled as he let me pull him close, and then he was straddling my lap. His hands gripped the back of the couch, and he was still laughing when I slid my hands into his hair and kissed him.

I understood now why he had wanted me in just my robe.

I made a little, hungry noise in my throat as I let go of his mouth. He leaned into my kisses as I trailed my lips down his neck to his collar bone. “You're so fucking sexy,” I mumbled against his skin. My hands stroked across his shoulder blades and down his back. I cupped his ass, careful of the garters, and he let out the most delicious, quiet moan. The silk of the stockings rubbed against my own thighs and tickled my palm as I stroked him. _Gods, is this how it feels for him when I sit in his lap?_

I tugged him into another kiss, making his groin press against me. I could feel how hard he was already getting, and I eased my hand between us so that I could tease his cock.

He sucked in a breath and eased back. “Wait...Berylla, wait.”

“Why...?” I nibbled his ear. He gasped and arched against me, but gently he pushed back from me.

“There's more to my surprise for you than this outfit...”

He climbed off my lap, but didn't get off the couch – he knelt on the cushion next to me and reached for a box on the table by the couch. His cheeks were getting pink as he handed it to me, but his eyes glittered with eagerness and his smile was both smug and horny.

“Open it.”

My hands were shaking, but I managed the little brass clasp eventually. When I lifted the lid of the box, Alphinaud's eyes were glued to my face. I looked inside at what was nestled there and nearly dropped the box.

“W-w-what is...why...” My face felt like the air in front of it was going to catch fire, because I knew exactly what it was, and what it was for, and I had a pretty good idea why he was giving it to me... I just didn't know what to say. I couldn't take my eyes off the sky-blue leather, the steel rings and clips and most especially not the thing in the middle.

“I want to watch you put it on.”

That got my attention back on him. He licked his lips, and reached out to cup my cheek.

“I d-d-don't know how, b-but I'll...” His thumb caressed my bottom lip and I forgot what I was saying for an instant as I tried to capture the digit in my teeth. When he pulled away, chuckling softly again, I swallowed and looked back at the item in the box. “I'll f-figure it out.”

Carefully I set the box on the couch cushion and lifted the thing out. The minute my hands touched it, I started shaking even more than I already had been. Leather, smooth and slightly cool – lined with soft linen on the inside, though the straps were all solid, and finely stitched, dark blue on top of the pale leather. Steel rings were riveted at each hip, and all the straps had several holes to go with their matching buckles. I felt a little giddy as I set it against myself. He must have had this custom made...gods, how long has he been thinking about this, planning it?

I looked closer at it, and then noticed the inside of the – the garment – wasn't just linen. I lifted my eyes to stare at Alphinaud. I recognized that shape. For an instant his expression reminded me of Alisaie so strongly – that night she and I had spent together back on the First – he smirked just the same way she had done when she'd manifested that toy.

“A design from Sharlayan,” he told me. “It took quite some time to contact the artisan and arrange everything. It is my hope that it will be worth the wait.”

Months, then. Literally half a year or more, for...for me to...

My brain wouldn't finish the thought.

I got up, and let my robe fall to the floor. Then – moving slowly – I started to put on Alphinaud's gift.

By the time I figured out all the straps, he was laughing, very quietly. But I could see how aroused he was, too – those damn underwear weren't leaving anything to the imagination. And somehow even though I was blushing all over my body – I was also so turned on I could barely think straight.

I looked down at myself, and then met his eyes. “Okay,” I had to pause and swallow and take another deep breath. “What next?”

“Now,” he breathed, his laughter fading away, “sit back down on the couch.”

I did as he said, never taking my eyes off him. He picked up the box, and took something else out of it – a tiny vial of something – and then set the box aside on the floor. Then, moving quickly, he stood and tugged at his underwear – I heard snaps – and then he was casting them aside.

Before I could speak, he was in my lap again, and kissing me, a hard kiss, not a teasing one.

He pressed close to me, and nuzzled my ear. I felt him press the vial into my hand. “Use it on me,” he whispered.

I managed to open it, half blind, and discovered that inside the vial was lubricant – very thick, very slick. It clung to my fingers, and I reached down, farther than I had before.

Alphinaud leaned into me, and I found myself mouthing at his neck even as my fingers found the hot place where he wanted me to touch him. I moaned even as he did, and rubbed the lube into him, trying to be gentle. But he pressed back into my hand, forcing himself against my fingers, wanting more. My breath hitched, and I let my fingers slide against him...then inside.

“Ahh,” he groaned, his breath hot against my neck and shoulder. “That's right, Berylla. Do – ah! – just like that, yes. A little – further – ”

I swallowed and panted, my eyes wide as I listened to him, to his commands and then to his soft curses as I slipped a second and a third finger inside of his body. It was so much tighter than a woman's sex – tighter even than Alisaie's – almost tight enough to make me worry that I would hurt him. But the way he shuddered against me, the way he kissed my skin, the things he was mumbling – it was obvious that he was loving every second of this.

I felt as if I might come before we even got started. My skin tingled, my nipples were hard and aching and he hadn't even touched me. His cock rubbed against my belly as he rode my fingers, and I felt the pre-come begin to ooze from the tip.

“Darlin' – oh, _gods_ , Alphinaud – do you want me to keep going, or...?”

He leaned back, and kissed me, a quick hard kiss. “I have no doubt you could ruin me just with your hands,” he told me. His eyes were blown wide and his cheeks were red, but he was smiling. “But it would be a shame to forget about my little present to you, wouldn't it?”

I swallowed. “I s-suppose. T-tell me...what you want.”

He reached down between us, and touched the strap-on. I felt his aether – but not on me, instead he was sending a tiny tendril of energy into the toy itself.

Pleasure thrummed through me, and I gasped, my eyes staring into his even as he smiled once more. “Oh Fury, what are you doin' – oh gods!”

I peeked down between us, and saw that the carved cock set into the strap-on harness was very softly glowing – and was it _bigger?_  
“Be steady,” he told me, and lifted his hips.

The moan that escaped me was breathless and low, as if my breath was being forced out of my body by the sight of that artificial cock vanishing inside of my lover's ass. Alphinaud's cock twitched strongly, and he let go of the toy. He swallowed hard as he lowered himself, and I set my hands on his ribs, steadying him as best I could. I watched his face in utter fascination, at the way his bottom lip trembled, the way his eyes became damp as I penetrated him. The lust in his expression floored me and made me feel like I was catching on fire.

Finally he was still, shivering, perched in my lap, on my cock, his face red, breathing hard.

I was breathing hard too, and I lifted my hand to stroke his hair out of his face. “Are you okay?” I whispered. I was shaking violently now, but I was half afraid to move.

“Yes.” His voice trembled. “Use your aether, Berylla. Once you activate it yourself, it will attune to you...” He panted. “Please.”

I obeyed, moving slowly. But the activation wasn't difficult at all. Even Thancred could have done it.

I moaned as I felt the toy responding. Attuning to me, the inside part started to shift, changing shape. I couldn't say a single coherent word, but I clutched Alphinaud and he smiled into my eyes, still panting. “That's it, Berylla...good...now.” He kissed me, slow and sweet, and rocked his hips just a little. “Now, my beloved warrior... _fuck me_.”

“Oh gods,” I groaned – and obeyed that soft, fervent command.

My motions were uncertain at first, sporadic, as I figured out how to thrust against him, into him. I knew when I got it right, because he cried out and his arms tensed. He changed his grip from my shoulders to the back of the couch, and tipped his head back, mouth open and moaning as he gave himself up to what I was doing to him.

I leaned in and kissed his chest and his neck, tonguing his nipples, loving the way he sounded. My hands kneaded his hips and his ass cheeks, my thighs trembled from the unusual motion, and inside me the toy flexed and moved with me, driving me half crazy. Alphinaud's cock rubbed and bounced against both my belly and his, and as his cries grew louder, I let go of his hip with my right hand and began to stroke that straining, pleading shaft.

_“Berylla!”_

His skin was flushed pink all the way down his belly now, he was sweating and crying and moaning with utter abandon. He looked completely debauched, and knowing that I was the one driving him mad with pleasure this way nearly tipped me over the edge in that moment.

“Please,” I groaned, my teeth clenched as my hips bucked up into him. “Please, darlin', come for me – Alphinaud – let go – let me see you!”

His eyes squeezed shut and he let loose a last, broken howl of pure lust – and then he broke, and his cock surged in my hand, his hips bouncing, his thighs shaking. Come splattered all over both of us and I clutched him to me to keep him from falling off the couch. My sex clenched around the toy and I cried out, a desperate shuddering moan, burying my face against his neck.

For a few moments, I couldn't even see, could only hold him tight and try to recover. Both of us were sweating and heaving for breath, shuddering in every limb. After a moment I fiddled with the toy, using my aether, and was immensely relieved when I discovered that I could make both sides of the thing shrink down. I was able at last to shift very slightly, and pull out of Alphinaud. The motion made him yelp and cling to me more tightly.

I felt tears against my shoulder, and on my face; felt his come sticking to us both. My hair was in my face, and my mouth was dry from panting so much, and my thighs were beginning to scream at me from the unaccustomed effort I had just put them through. But I held my darling diplomat to me and whispered into his hair.

“Gods, I love you so damn much.”

**Author's Note:**

> This work got posted in part due to the wonderful Azura!


End file.
